Media Dustin Poirier says Khabib held up division and cost him title. Was Khabib worried about Conor being champion?

[Ladron4sherdog]

Goat retired after choking out the all American wrestler. What's Dustin crying about, here?

 

[jeff7b9]

What cost him the title was losing to Khabib, Charles and Islam for the title.

perfect first post.


Dustin got more than his fair share of opportunities.
He fought Charles, in an undisputed title bout, who has been defeated double digits times in the UFC.

Dustin is gonna ride off into the sunset with millions in the bank, no signs of CTE, an interim title and probably a BMF participation trophy.

 

[markg171]

Why are people in this thread debating whether Khabib stalled and got stripped or if he vacated. Bro fully retired in the octagon directly after the Justin fight. He never ever once after that said or hinted he was coming back. He retired in the cage. End of story. Dana White was stretching it out trying to get him to come back. Khabib vacated, Dana White wouldnt accept it for months. End of story theres no debate.

Lol Khabib himself demanded to be included in the next rankings update as P4P #1. Do you think retired fighters are eligible for rankings or something? Khabib neither retired nor vacated that night. And he knew it.

Also here's Khabib himself saying in Feb 2021 he hasn't vacated and so is holding up the division, and was planning to hold the title until a vacant title fight maybe started in May or June 2021.

Nurmagomedov did tell reporters that he's already told White that he doesn't like that the lightweight division is in a state of flux.

"It's because of me," he said.

"Although some fighters have just fought each other and it's clear who should fight for the title, and who should fight for the No.1 contender spot.


"So they are supposed to have the next fights in May or June. There's some time for match-making. But I'd like it all to be decided and I let Dana know that I don't want to hold it all up.

"I said my word, I've done everything I wanted to achieve in this sport.

"I'll feel relieved," the 32-year-old said. "Like a weight off my shoulders. Let them just fight for the vacant title. Let them fight for the No.1 contender spot. I have no problem with that."

Khabib Nurmagomedov said he'll be 'relieved' when he finally vacates the UFC lightweight title

Nurmagomedov also said Dustin Poirier deserves to be the new champ, as the American fighter targets the Conor McGregor trilogy.

www.businessinsider.com

The UFC had to finally haul his ass in in March 2021 because they were sick and tired of him holding the belt while never officially retiring. Retirement is more than an announcement in the cage. Khabib, and every other fighter, has to formally retire in writing and legally like any other profession. Which again Khabib's team obviously knows. His own team captain Cormier retired 2 months before him.

Like do you think it's all just a magical coincidence that Khabib actually retired, vacated the belt, was pulled from the rankings, was pulled from USADA, and Charles/Chandler were all announced on the very same day in March 2021?

 

[Poirierfan]

That guy is a few beers short of a six pack.

Come to think of it, he's the one that seems pretty salty. Sounds like someone took a shit in his Cheerios.

 

[Substance Abuse]

Come to think of it, he's the one that seems pretty salty. Sounds like someone took a shit in his Cheerios.

True. He does seem like a shit eater.

 

[koa pomaikai]

Lol Khabib himself demanded to be included in the next rankings update as P4P #1. Do you think retired fighters are eligible for rankings or something? Khabib neither retired nor vacated that night. And he knew it.

Also here's Khabib himself saying in Feb 2021 he hasn't vacated and so is holding up the division, and was planning to hold the title until a vacant title fight maybe started in May or June 2021.

Khabib Nurmagomedov said he'll be 'relieved' when he finally vacates the UFC lightweight title

Nurmagomedov also said Dustin Poirier deserves to be the new champ, as the American fighter targets the Conor McGregor trilogy.

www.businessinsider.com

The UFC had to finally haul his ass in in March 2021 because they were sick and tired of him holding the belt while never officially retiring. Retirement is more than an announcement in the cage. Khabib, and every other fighter, has to formally retire in writing and legally like any other profession. Which again Khabib's team obviously knows. His own team captain Cormier retired 2 months before him.

Like do you think it's all just a magical coincidence that Khabib actually retired, vacated the belt, was pulled from the rankings, was pulled from USADA, and Charles/Chandler were all announced on the very same day in March 2021?

Yeah he vacated in march, not in October.

 

[Orochimaru 大蛇丸]

I don’t think that’s on Khabib, he retired and didn’t stray from that for a second, Dana just didn’t accept it

But the way some of these guys like DP, or JG come off sometimes is so entitled

There’s a difference between a hypothetical scenario happening where the UFC made that fight vs Conor for a bullshit unearned title, and actually deserving the title

DP has never ever been the best LW in the world, neither has Conor to be honest, but he certainly wasn’t at that point… the dude has gotten more TS than he deserved and still looks back and thinks something was unfair lmao

 

[markg171]

I don’t think that’s on Khabib, he retired and didn’t stray from that for a second, Dana just didn’t accept it

Khabib quite literally immediately strayed from retiring by demanding to still be ranked on Tuesday:

"Today, I want to say this was my last fight. Ain't no way I'm going to come here without my father. After what happened with my father, when the UFC called me I talked with my mother for three days.

"She doesn't me to go and fight without my father. But I promise her it's going to be my last fight.

"And if I keep my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here.

"I know only one thing I want from UFC on Tuesday: you guys have to put me as number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world because I deserve this.​

Retired fighters aren't eligible for ranking.

 

[Phisher]

No, Khabib didn’t officially retire and vacate his belt until March 2021.

Khabib was never stripped, he voluntarily vacated, about 6 months after his Justin fight.

UFC announce lightweight title fight after Khabib officially retires

Khabib Nurmagomedov met with UFC president Dana White and officially confirmed the retirement decision that he first signalled in November 2020.

www.sportsjoe.ie

Khabib said that he was done immediately after he fought Gaethje, but Dana refused to take the belt off of him and kept trying to convince him to rematch Conor.

This is just like the Jones bullshit.

Fighters always go after other fighters for the UFC's decisions.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Khabib didn't stall for shit. He retired after choking Justin.

UFC didn't took his resignation until a while after because Red Goof wanted that Conor rematch money.

 

[Phisher]

Khabib quite literally immediately strayed from retiring by demanding to still be ranked on Tuesday:

"Today, I want to say this was my last fight. Ain't no way I'm going to come here without my father. After what happened with my father, when the UFC called me I talked with my mother for three days.

"She doesn't me to go and fight without my father. But I promise her it's going to be my last fight.

"And if I keep my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here.

"I know only one thing I want from UFC on Tuesday: you guys have to put me as number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world because I deserve this.​

Retired fighters aren't eligible for ranking.

When Cejudo said he was retired after he beat Dillashaw, they immediately took both belts off of him.

When Khabib said he was done, the UFC kept him as champion and Dana kept pestering him to fight again for months and insisted that the Conor rematch was going to happen.

I have no idea how that's Khabib's fault.

 

[Chayanne]

Too bad Dustin, always had respect but now he talks like a drunk who is crying and blames everyone for his 3 title losses, too bad

 

[Ghostoftheville]

This is revisionist history, Khabib defended his title on 10/24/20 and announced his retirement in the cage. Dana was the one that refused to accept it and believed he could convince Khabib to take another fight.

Dustin is the guy that turned down a title fight so he could fight Conor a third time for another big payday. He can only blame himself

 

[markg171]

When Cejudo said he was retired after he beat Dillashaw, they immediately took both belts off of him.

When Khabib said he was done, the UFC kept him as champion and Dana kept pestering him to fight again for months and insisted that the Conor rematch was going to happen.

I have no idea how that's Khabib's fault.

Saying you're retired =/= you're retired. Retirement for fighters is a legal process like it is with any other profession. Fighters need to formally inform the UFC in writing of retirement otherwise they remain active fighters with the organization, and therefore still appear eligible for ranking and testing purposes.

Even I can find this information just through basic publicly available info on the testing and ranking sites. Athletes and their management all know this a hell of a lot better than I would too. Khabib's own team mate Cormier had retired 2 months before Khabib's fight with Justin. They were all well aware of what steps a fighter needs to do to retire and Khabib wasn't doing them.

Cejudo and Cormier were immediately pulled from testing, rankings, and matchup offerings because they actually formally retired. Khabib was not because he didn't. Dana wasn't "not accepting it" because Khabib was keeping his active status with the UFC so of course Dana kept offering him fights.

March is when after that final meeting Khabib and his team finally did all the paperwork to actually retire. One of his managers even admitted that in an Instagram post at the time.

 

[The Bloody Nine]

"If a guy is considering retirement, he should probably go ahead and do it."

Unless he can make me a bunch of money, in which case, I'll stalk him around the world and beg him not to.

 

[markg171]

This is revisionist history, Khabib defended his title on 10/24/20 and announced his retirement in the cage. Dana was the one that refused to accept it and believed he could convince Khabib to take another fight.

Dustin is the guy that turned down a title fight so he could fight Conor a third time for another big payday. He can only blame himself

It's quite literally not. Khabib was saying in February 2021 that the division was being held up by him not vacating the title as he was waiting for the UFC to make the matchups in May/June for what would be the then vacated title. He knew he hadn't vacated and was planning to hold the title until it was pried from him by a new title bout starting. That's long past October 2020.

Khabib being forced to vacate in March 2021 was actually AHEAD of Khabib's plans because the UFC got tired of him not actually retiring and wanted to move on.

You are however correct that Dustin is making SOME revisionist history as at the time he was offered the vacant title shot against Charles but instead turned it down for the Conor trilogy. He lost to Charles later that year anyways for the belt so probably wouldn't have won if they fought earlier instead, but his title fights were delayed because of Khabib AND him. He's correct that Conor/Dustin 2 was supposed to be for the #1 contender bout as even Khabib acknowledged this in his post-fight interview and so logically it should've then been made the vacant title fight if Khabib had ever actually retired and vacated in October.

 

[Ghostoftheville]

It's quite literally not. Khabib was saying in February 2021 that the division was being held up by him not vacating the title as he was waiting for the UFC to make the matchups in May/June for what would be the then vacated title. He knew he hadn't vacated and was planning to hold the title until it was pried from him by a new title bout starting. That's long past October 2020.

Khabib being forced to vacate in March 2021 was actually AHEAD of Khabib's plans because the UFC got tired of him not actually retiring and wanted to move on.

You are however correct that Dustin is making SOME revisionist history as at the time he was offered the vacant title shot against Charles but instead turned it down for the Conor trilogy. He lost to Charles later that year anyways for the belt so probably wouldn't have won if they fought earlier instead, but his title fights were delayed because of Khabib AND him. He's correct that Conor/Dustin 2 was supposed to be for the #1 contender bout as even Khabib acknowledged this in his post-fight interview and so logically it should've then been made the vacant title fight if Khabib had ever actually retired and vacated in October.

When you retire in ring and refuse to take any other fights that's a retirement. Dana and the UFC refused to pull the proverbial trigger and strip the champ that was refusing to fight anybody

 

[Koya]

Yep I agree, Dana was trying so hard for a Khabib v Conor rematch; he kept saying "imagine how many buys it would do", if he had a different narrative maybe he would have gotten his wish.

He just had to stop making it about money only, after his dad's death the only thing that could have brought Khabib back was achieving the legacy his father wanted.

And he wanted him to fight GSP.

Offer him GSP for a super fight at catch-weight and have it for a fake belt like the BMF.

No division blocked, and you have a massive super fight that would have made massive numbers.

But Dana hates GSP and thinks money can solved everything. Hence why we also didn't get Fedor in the UFC.

 

[Orochimaru 大蛇丸]

Khabib quite literally immediately strayed from retiring by demanding to still be ranked on Tuesday:

"Today, I want to say this was my last fight. Ain't no way I'm going to come here without my father. After what happened with my father, when the UFC called me I talked with my mother for three days.

"She doesn't me to go and fight without my father. But I promise her it's going to be my last fight.

"And if I keep my word, I have to follow this. It was my last fight here.

"I know only one thing I want from UFC on Tuesday: you guys have to put me as number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world because I deserve this.​

Retired fighters aren't eligible for ranking.

I did always think him begging for the P4P spot during and immediately after his retirement speech was bullshit and kind of defeats the whole accomplishment of being called P4P #1

Somewhat similar to how he and Islam pushed the narrative that the Volk fight was for the #1 P4P spot… imo a fighter should never politic for the spot because it makes the ranking even less credible than it already is

That being said, that’s what Khabib was on about, he just wanted to be called P4P #1 for that day or week or whatever

I had a lot of problems with the way Khabib retired with the P4P thing and the blaming it on his mom thing, but as far as I know he didn’t push to hold the title and was always upfront and honest about legitimately being retired

I guess your only point is to criticize Khabib, but DP sure as fuck should not have gotten the title for beating an old, drunken, disgrace who hadn’t done shit in the sport for years, you do agree with that right?

 

[koa pomaikai]

I did always think him begging for the P4P spot during and immediately after his retirement speech was bullshit and kind of defeats the whole accomplishment of being called P4P #1

Somewhat similar to how he and Islam pushed the narrative that the Volk fight was for the #1 P4P spot… imo a fighter should never politic for the spot because it makes the ranking even less credible than it already is

That being said, that’s what Khabib was on about, he just wanted to be called P4P #1 for that day or week or whatever

I had a lot of problems with the way Khabib retired with the P4P thing and the blaming it on his mom thing, but as far as I know he didn’t push to hold the title and was always upfront and honest about legitimately being retired

I guess your only point is to criticize Khabib, but DP sure as fuck should not have gotten the title for beating an old, drunken, disgrace who hadn’t done shit in the sport for years, you do agree with that right?

DP’s point wasn’t that he deserved it, but that he would have got it.

Regardless of if you think DP vs Conor should have been for a title, it almost certainly would have been given both were just contenders and Mcgregor being the biggest draw in the sport.

It is hard to deny the fact that had Khabib formally retired, Mcgregor vs Poirier would be for the title.